As Americans, we are obsessed with shoes. Shoes are a fashion statement. Shoes say something about us, our style, and sometimes our character.
Let’s talk about our obsession with one type of shoe — sneakers. From what I was able to glean from doing some research on our obsession with sneakers, they have deep cultural roots and are loved by children and adults from all cultures. But why? I am glad you asked.
Sneakers originally designed for athletes evolved into status symbols and became ingrained in our everyday street style. According to Wikipedia, vulcanized rubber was discovered by Charles Goodyear in 1839 and used for Bill Bowerman’s waffle sole for Nike in 1971. According to Nicholas Smiths book, “Kicks: The Great American Story of Sneakers,” the waffle-iron shoes became a “big Nike legend.
” A fascinating side note is that Bill Bowerman, University of Oregon coach, said this ingenious design came to him during breakfast with his wife on a summer Sunday. He was eating waffles when it came to mind that the grooves of the waffle iron were a perfect mold for the multi-terrain shoes he imagined. The sneaker industry alone brings in more than $80 billion a year.
We believe that the right sneakers can make us run faster, jump higher and improve overall performance. According to a Smithsonian Magazine article on Smith's book, “a 1989 Air Jordan ad while trying to explain Jordon’s talent indicated, ‘It’s gotta be the shoes.’” This then became a focal mom.
